According to the US Library of Congress website, the Cars frontman was born in 1949 and so died at the age of 70. A majority of US-based media outlets, however, say Ocasek was born in 1944 and died at the age of 75.
The NYPD said officers responding to a 911 call found Ocasek at about 4 p.m. local time on Sunday.
Ocasek's cause of death was not immediately clear. The NYPD said no criminality was suspected.
Ocasek is survived by his five children.
Ocasek co-founded The Cars in Boston in 1976 with longtime collaborator and freind Benjamin Orr. The band's sound merged classic guitar-oriented rock with synthesizer-driven pop.
The Cars was famous in the late 1970s and 1980s for many songs including "Just What I Needed", ''Shake It Up" and "Drive". The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
The band recorded over a dozen Top 40 hits, including "My Best Friend’s Girl", "Good Times Roll", and "You're All I've Got Tonight".